Discrimination, climate change and mental health: The big issues worrying young NZ leaders
Sunday, 5 May 2019
Discrimination, climate change and mental health have been ranked the most pressing issues affecting New Zealand by young leaders ahead of an annual youth summit.
More than 88 per cent of the 202 millennials and Gen Z Kiwis - aged 15 to 30-something - surveyed in the lead up to the 2019 Festival for the Future in Wellington in July, said they wanted to see more action taken by the Government, businesses and individuals on each of those problems.
Gender equity and the accessibility of housing were voted the fourth and fifth most concerning issues, with 80 and 52 per cent of respondents from across the country respectively saying they were 'very important'.
Guy Ryan, chief executive of the social enterprise Inspiring Stories which runs Festival for the Future, told Stuff it was critical young people's perspectives were heard on issues of national significance because 'we have the biggest stake in the future'.
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'A lot of these big issues of our time are complex, are confronting and intimidating and it's really important that we create safe spaces to actually explore them and not just do that in isolation as young people, but actually get some of these senior leaders and decision makers from government, from businesses, from communities also in the room to be part of those conversations and look at really making solutions happen together,' he said.
Possible solutions to the 'complex and inter-related' problems that topped the survey would be discussed by experts, panellists and in workshops at the three-day conference, Ryan said.
More than 1200 people - including government ministers, business leaders, students and young people working on future-focused projects - attended Festival for the Future last year.
Young people working to combat two of the key issues highlighted in the survey - discrimination and racism and climate change - told Stuff they weren't surprised their peers were also concerned.
Ani McGahan's experience of racism as a young Māori woman growing up on Auckland's North Shore motivated her to research the topic for her master's degree at the University of Auckland.
She said as a society we're all part of the problem of racism, but we can also all be part of the solution.
'The reality for me is, to be human is to generalise and make biases. I think our brains, the way they work, we have to generalise things in order to understand. When things come up like this, with it being top of my list for young future leaders in New Zealand, it really calls into question whether or not we're addressing fundamental issues in the country.'
McGahan said the terrorist attacks at two Christchurch mosques on March 15 had been sobering for New Zealanders as previously, many people avoided talking about racism and discrimination because it was considered taboo and they were afraid of offending people.
But having open and honest conversations about our own biases and privileges and listening to other people's perspectives was essential to reducing racism and discrimination, she said.
National co-ordinator of the School Strike 4 Climate NZ movement, Sophie Handford, said the decisions the Government made now would impact the environment for not only her generation but also her children's - that's if she chooses to have any and if the earth is still liveable.
She and other students across the country were calling for the Government to ban the extraction of oil and gas in New Zealand and invest in sustainable forms of energy.